New Mexico Highlands must have forgotten Tuesday’s game at The Pit was an exhibition matchup.
The Cowboys then apparently remembered at halftime, came out flat, were run through the cleaners and arrived out the other side neatly pressed.
No chance — the UNM men’s basketball team, led by point guard Dairese Gary, powered to victory in its first off-the-books game, 98-68.
Next time, it’s for real. UNM will kick off its regular season at home on Nov. 14 against UC-Riverside.
Either the Lobos didn’t show much against NMHU — or they don’t have much. It’s probably the former.
Head coach Steve Alford said it was a matter of the Lobos becoming accustomed to their playing surroundings.
“I didn’t see frustration,” he said. “I just saw guys that haven’t been in that atmosphere, haven’t played on that floor. I think this is a pretty good team we played. They’re very hard to guard. I think as they continue to work on things, they’re going to be a tough out for some teams.”
For whatever reason, it took an entire half for the Lobos to bully their physically inferior opponents into submission. Highlands refused to kowtow to bigger, badder UNM — for the first 20 minutes, at least.
Needless to say, the Cowboys subsidized their lack of height and talent with furious effort and — what else — 3-point baskets. Highlands got five treys compared to the Lobos’ two.
As a result, the Cowboys were within six, 39-33, at the break. But UNM overwhelmed the Cowboys in the second half, spurred by a 15-0 run to open the second half.
But then the second half was a different story.
Gary said Alford made certain the Lobos came out energized.
“He got on us,” Gary said. “You know how coach Alford is. He’s a competitor. He just told us that we have to focus on every part of the game. He just preached to us to focus.”
Gary, who led the Lobos with 20 points, added back-to-back, uncontested layups off the fast break, before forward Roman Martinez sank three free throws and a mid-range jumper to put the Lobos up 54-33 with 16:23 left in the second half.
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Goodnight, Cowboys.
From there, the Lobos toyed with NHMU, opening up their offense and working on the fly. The Lobos, passing lanes open, outscored the Cowboys 22-4 off the break. UNM manhandled NMHU in the paint as well, out-rebounding the Cowboys 42-34, which translated to a lopsided 50-20 advantage in points in the paint.
Swingman and junior-college transfer Darington Hobson sprinkled in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes of play. He started off slowly in the first half, but his play picked up as the game wore on.
Darington said he was just getting into the flow of the game.
“Something like that,” he said. “Coming in I knew my versatility was going to be big — key for us. I just think that as long as I’m making plays, rebounding and playing hard, good things happen for us. I think the first half I was kind of overanxious and just excited to be playing on the court at The Pit.”
Roman Andrade paced the Cowboys with 20 points, while Kelvin Franklin added 12 points for the Cowboys.
The Lobos, however, had six players in double figures, Gary leading on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. Phillip McDonald added 14, Hobson dashed in 13 and Martinez finished with 10 points. A.J. Hardemann recorded a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“What I most like was going from one half to another,” Alford said. “With a young basketball team, you never know how things are going to go from one 20 (minutes) to the next.”
